Park boss

Description

Park boss is a first for accessible games. Following such mainstream titles as Theme park and coaster Tycoon, the object of Park boss is to build your own theme park from the ground up. Starting with a loan, you must construct rides, employ ride operators, maintenance staff and even entertainers and marching bands. Set up snack stands and gift shops, and of course put in as many rides and games as possible in order to attract the maximum number of visitors so you can flease them for all their cash, ---- mmmm, give them a nice day out at your park.

In Park boss, you will have to literally run your park from week too week, hiering new staff and setting their salaries, dealing with disgruntled workers or visitors who's kids are getting board of standing in kews, (and woe betide you if you forget to include toilets). Of course, the major part of the game is building and placing rides. You begin with a 10 x 10 square space for your park (though you can buy more land when needed), and items such as rides, shops and picnic areas all take up varying amounts of space. It's not just space however. Each ride has to have at least two staff to operate it, plus will occasionally need maintenance, indeed you will need to think carefully about what rides your installing and manage the budgit closely to avoid going bankrupt.

For such a complex game, with over 70 rides, add campaigns and even the ability to build different zones for your park, the controls are surprisingly easy, indeed most of the game, interacting with the bank, getting e-mails at your office, hiering and paying staff is menu driven just requiring the arrow keys and enter (and the function keys occasionally to skip to specific places such as your e-mails).

One of the most fun features however (and one any good park maniger will indulge in), is the ability to walk around your park with the arrows. Hit T to talk to visitors (and they won't be shy about expressing their opinions), and hit enter to interact with rides, play minigames or just take a relaxing plunge down the log floom to relieve your stress. With a large amount of great music and sound effects, you'll be looking around for costumed mice or hoards of frighteningly cheerful children of all nations singing annoyingly catchy tunes. .

Despite being a highly complex game, Parkboss is easy to pick up and play thanks to a number of hints given to you by the game's less than friendly voice (perhaps he thinks of you as his apprentice), which get you up and running with building your first few attractions. You can also order a park report which offers recommendations for things like how many staff you need and what wages they require, although bare in mind this advice does need to be taken with caution.

Most of the game's menus and information are provided by the very distinctive game voice, although certain items (such as your e-mail and financial statements), will be read by your Microsoft Sapi voice (you can adjust this in the main menu).